Cramlington stench is caused by chicken manure

DOZENS of complaints have been made over a nasty smell which has been lingering near a Northumberland town.

DOZENS of complaints have been made over a nasty smell which has been lingering near a Northumberland town.

The mystery stench of what was described as horse manure has caused a stink in the Cramlington area for several days this week, with the pong also being reported in North Tyneside, Morpeth and Blyth.

Northumberland County Council has received around 25 complaints about the smell while its member for Cramlington North Conservative Councillor Wayne Daley last night claimed he had received about 40 complaints.

The council established that the smell was the result of organic chicken manure being used on a farm in Bedlington, having ruled out Seghill landfill site and local industry.

It has spoken to the farmer and said it will be giving advice about spreading of manure “so this doesn’t happen again”.

Semi-retired Allen Young, of Highburn estate, Cramlington, contacted The Journal on Thursday having noticed a “strong” smell while visiting the town’s Bridge garage, and on other occasions on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Coun Daley said he had been “inundated” with complaints about the stink on his Twitter page and his personal website.

He picked up visitors from London one day this week and had to apologise for the “unbelievable” smell when arriving back in Cramlington.

Coun Daley hit out at the farmer for not giving the council advance notice of the work, to allow it to deal with complaints straightaway.

He said: “The second largest town in Northumberland with this going on for days, it just smacks of (being) inconsiderate.“

A council spokesman said: “We have established that the smell has come from organic chicken manure being used on a farm at Bedlington. This has now been ploughed in and residents and motorists should notice a dramatic improvement. The humid weather this week has also meant the smell didn’t dissipate as quickly as it might have.

“We are now in contact with the farmer to find out how much manure has been used and what methods were used to spread it. We will give advice on the guidelines about spreading manure, so that this doesn’t happen again.”